Railroad Legal Issues and Resources (2015)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

138 Cases 737 I. Whether a PUC or the STB Has Jurisdiction over the Installation 737 of New Railroad Bridges Prior to Charging Railroads for Their Construction In Union Pacific R.R. Co. v. City of Des Plaines,648 Union Pacific refused to pay two- thirds of the cost of two new bridges because they were part of a highway project. A federal district court in Illinois held that the ICC would have to determine whether a local safety or security hazard was present before determining whether Union Pacific could be required to pay for the bridges. J. Whether a PUC May Authorize a Change 738 in Audible Devices that Are Contrary to Federal Law In BNSF Railway Co. v. Public Utility Commission,649 a California appellate court set aside the CPUC’s decision that it had jurisdiction to consider approving the use of wayside horns in lieu of locomotive-mounted horns. XXXIV. QUIET ZONES 740 A. Introduction 740 State laws that are not preempted may regulate the use of locomotive horns outside federal quiet zones. Sections B through D, respectively, discuss federal law on the use of audible warnings at highway–rail grade crossings, exceptions to the use of a locomotive horn, and minimum requirements for the establishment of quiet zones. Section E discusses state laws relating to quiet zones. Sections F and G analyze cases on the use of audible warning devices outside federal quiet zones and on whether state administrative procedures are preempted. Section H discusses guidance that is available on how to establish a quiet zone. Statutes and Regulations 741 B. Audible Warnings at Highway–Rail Grade Crossings 741 Federal law provides in part that “the Secretary may…order railroad carriers operating over one or more crossings to cease temporarily the sounding of locomotive horns at such crossings.”650 648 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20615, at *1, 6 (N.D. Ill. 2003). 649 218 Cal. App.4th 778, 798, 160 Cal. Rptr. 3d 492, 506 (Cal. App. 2013). 650 49 U.S.C. § 20153(e) (2014).

139 C. Exceptions to the Use of a Locomotive Horn 741 Under certain conditions pursuant to Section 222.33, a railroad company operating over a public highway–rail crossing has discretion not to sound a train’s horn except when “active grade crossing warning devices have malfunctioned.”651 D. Minimum Requirements for a Quiet Zone 741 Section 222.35 of the regulations outlines the minimum requirements for quiet zones; for example, a quiet zone must be at least one-half mile long.652 E. State Laws Relating to Quiet Zones 744 States that have enacted statutes with procedures and criteria to establish quiet zones that conform to 49 U.S.C. § 20153 also provide information on the federal and local statutes and regulations that are applicable to quiet zones.653 Cases 746 F. California Law Regulating the Use of Audible Warning Devices 746 Outside of Federal Quiet Zones In BNSF Railway Company v. Public Utilities Commission,654 a California appellate court stated that federal regulations required an audible warning device to be mounted on a locomotive; therefore, an audible device mounted at a crossing did not comply with 49 C.F.R. § 222.21. G. Preemption and Administrative Procedures 747 In BNSF Railway Company v. Arizona Corporation Commission,655 the Arizona Court of Appeals held that the Arizona Corporation Commission’s action “to investigate and approve or deny installation of modifications to crossings” was an administrative procedure that “fit [] 651 49 C.F.R. §§ 222.33(a) and (b) (2014). 652 49 C.F.R. §§ 222.35 and 222.35(a)(1)(i) (2014). 653 See, e.g., Quiet Zones, Cal. Pub. Utilities Comm’n, available at http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/safety/Rail/Crossings/quietzones.htm (last accessed Mar. 31, 2015). 654 160 Cal. Rptr. 3d 492, 503 (Cal. Ct. App. 2013). 655 268 P.3d 1138 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2012).